My friend, bIgumena/b Inés Ajau lives there. She is Abbess of Holy Trinity Convent, which is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch. In Guatemala, a large group of people wishing to convert to Orthodoxy attracted my attention. b..../b In the Empire (and the lands affected by it), the clergy were just a social bestate/b, and not a particularly important one at that. In the barbarian west, the clergy took on the airs of government officials, which led, ultimately, ...
I was fascinated to learn that it was also the first Orthodox read for bIgumen/b Jonah Paffhausen. But it opened my eyes to the Orthodox understanding of the reality of God and the necessity of our unmediated union with Him. b.../b My auto mechanic father picked it up and read it once when he was bvacationing/b with us and pronounced, ?That?s the best book I ever read!? High praise. St. Silouan of Mt. Athos, Archimandrite Sophrony. A modern saint and Orthodox writer whom all would b.../b
seeing her son, the mother of god exclaimed: "my soul doth magnify the lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my savior, for he hath regarded the low bestate/b of his handmaiden" (luke 1:46-48) and, rising from her bed to meet the lord, b.../b
